The “chillin'” referenced in my last blog two months ago (how lazy am I!?) is most definitely over.

It seems that we had an uninvited guest at our wedding in June that left us a most surprising wedding present… That’s right, the stork crashed our wedding and we are having a baby in March! The ides of March to be exact.

Matt and I are thrilled, though maybe a little unprepared for this new adventure. Matt’s idea of preparation has been to build more things and start more projects including a complete home remodel that will add a baby room. My preparation has been to read books on the basics, like what I am supposed to be eating (not just ice cream, cereal, gummy bears, and bagels I found out), changing diapers, tricks to fitting a fat belly into clothing and how to bring this baby into the world.

How the heck does this diaper thing work???

When we found out in July we realized, much to our dismay, that a honeymoon in Belize was out. Apparently Belize is the Malaria capital of the world and I would have had to get vaccination shots to go. We decided instead to float the Missouri River Breaks right here in Montana for a mini-moon and then travel to Belize when the baby is old enough to dump with a grandparent.

The canoe trip was amazing! We even brought the dogs, who annoyed us every step of the way – shocker, I know. Here are some highlights.

The night before we put our canoe in at Coal Banks Landing, we stayed in the little ghost town of Virgelle. We were the only ones there renting a rustic (no electricity) cabin. Wade was so excited that he puked all over the cabin – you’re welcome that I didn’t take a picture of that.

Rustic and cozy!

Day 1 on the river was a steep learning curve. We had hoped that Wade would calmly swim next to the boat most of the time, but that did not happen. Come to find out, Wade is OBSESSED with biting waves.

motor-butt

Die waves!!!

When he makes waves with his own paws from swimming, he has to bite them. In his wave mania he would swallow so much water and air that his butt would sound like an outboard motorboat motor. The words “water toxicity” kept floating through my head, so we kept him in the boat. In the boat, Wade was not sure how to tell us he needed to pee after slurping all that water, so he just peed in the boat, which got him a ticket back in the water. When we finally landed at camp, we were beat.

Big river

Supper time with a view

Blue found a dead animal to roll in somewhere along the way, so the dogs did not sleep in our tent. In fact, they did not sleep at all and neither did we because they were up barking and causing a ruckus all night. We still managed to take a morning hike.

Family hike, all 4.5 of us!

My baby bump is stuck

Day 2 was difficult on no sleep – damn dogs! We only paddled a few miles and found camp. Blue had been thoroughly bathed and we decided (for our own sake) that the animals could sleep in the two person tent with us. They loved it, and we slept.

Dead tired animals

my legs make great dog pillows

Blue the snuggler

The next day we did not see 1 other soul, we actually probably saw 4 other boats total during the whole trip – ideal!

The nuns

We pulled into this last campsite and started to unpack. Matt noticed (by almost stepping on) a rattlesnake right on the walkway. That jerk of a snake stayed right on the path all night which meant we had to leash the dogs and scramble through the brush to get to our stuff.

Shake shake little snake

That last night we managed to stay alive as the most scary wind/lightning storm came down on us. There was no rain, just cracks of lightning and thunder so loud I thought our little tent had been hit numerous times. The branches on the huge cottonwood trees above us snapped and fell all around and I thought we were done for. Matt pretended not to be panicked and the dogs just slept through it – typical. After the storm passed, the coyotes came out in full force and howled us to sleep.

We paddled to the Judith Landing take-out and on the drive home stopped in Big Sandy, MT (population 600). I was dying for something cold as our ice ran out 2 days earlier. I ordered the standard pregnant lady fare, strawberry milkshake and fries to dip in it, it was heaven!

What a great mini-moon as a family of 4 and a 1/2.

Cute Blade pics of the month: (I promise when the baby comes I will not stop posting cute pics of my dogs)

COWS!

Pretty girl

We were all hot and tired

*New* Baby Bump Watch:

July

7 weeks

Today

15 weeks - and lovin' the sweatpants

P.S. That is our new fence behind me in the pic. I will show you more of Matt’s projects next time – and no, it will not be 2 more months until the next post!

Love it!!! Can’t say that I am shocked about you being happy about no electricity in your cabin. Something I could never understand! 🙂
Congrats on the little one and so happy you had a chance to Mini-Moon. Belize can wait!
Love you both and so happy for you!!!